Ericsson IPX has launched its cross-operator WAP billing system in the UK which allows big brand content distributors to bill directly on their WAP sites.

While most mobile content is still purchased via operator’s own portals, a number of games publishers and developers would like to promote their own B2C brands �off-portal’.

With Ericsson IPX’s WAP Billing Consumers will be able to browse and buy, using their mobile phones without needing to register for a service, entering a username or password.

“While Bango has proved successful offering its branded service, this is mainly suitable for smaller brands” said Peter Garside, Ericsson IPX’s UK head of sales. “The Ericsson IPX offering is targeted at bigger companies that have a recognisable brand already that gives the consumer confidence. Consumers don’t have to leave the vendor’s site to make payment”.

When using the service, consumers confirm a purchase by clicking on a “confirm purchase” link on their mobile phone. IPX then informs the WAP application of the completed purchase transaction and consumers are redirected to the content they purchased. At the same time a premium rate SMS is sent to the phone giving a click to buy experience.

PayForIt Is Coming

The wap billing today is a precursor of Payforit available from the operators later this year. Payforit will dispense with the need to send the PSMS, although with strict guidelines as to how the payment pages are displayed. “Vodafone want to separate out payment process from content owners” said Garside “and to have just a few intermediaries for billing. So we could say that this is a first stage towards Payforit and lets content partners develop WAP sites with direct payment now.

Country Rollout

It is available to all consumers on all UK operators including the Virgin MVNO except 3 that Garside hopes will be added in Q3 this year. Since Ericsson manages the network for 3 this should be easy to sort except that it is the operator that set’s the project priorities.

“Our existing relationships with operators has helped but the negotiations to launch WAP billing with UK operators has taken time” said Garside.

Already trialing with a few companies such as Mobix Interactive, Pitch, SonyEricsson, Garside is looking for very large media companies in the UK who want their brand on the mobile internet not wanting to go through a mobile portal.

Having first started WAP billing in Singapore and Sweden, Ericsson IPX has now rolled out the service to 11 countries. Vendors can connect once to Ericsson and then to all the other available countries. “Other countries following the UK launch later this year are potentially Spain, Italy and Taiwan” said Garside.

With a mobile phone at hand, cash is no longer king!

Today, Nokia and its collaborators, China Fujian Mobile Communications Co., Ltd., Xiamen Branch, Xiamen E-Tong Card Company Ltd., and Philips, announced the first NFC Mobile Payment Field Trial in China at Xiamen City, Fujian Province, China.

During the trial, one hundred of volunteer consumers of China Mobile in Xiamen will experience first hand the conviniences of mobile payment enabled by NFC technology. The consumers will use the NFC enabled Nokia 3220 mobile phones to make mobile payment through any point-of-sales covered by Xiamen E-Tong Card, including locations such as on the public transportation buses, ferry boats or at restaurants, movie theaters in Xiamen City.

E-Tong Card is a contactless transportation card, conforms to ISO 14443 Type A, compatible with Mifare. It has a volume of issuance of 800,000 in Xiamen City.

In addition to the standard E-Tong Card function, consumers can check their card balance and the last nine transaction records on their mobile phone display. They can also use their Nokia mobile phone to access a built-in, WAP-based website, to find out stores and venues that accept E-Tong Card and the interesting product or service information.

Mobile payment is one of the most welcomed emerging mobile applications. Market research in Shanghai, China by AC- Nielson in 2006 showed that over 80% of consumers are interested in the functional integration of city transportation cards and bank payment cards into mobile phone.

Nokia has launched the world first NFC enabled mobile phone, Nokia 3220, in April 2005. And the commercial trials using Nokia 3220 for mobile payment have been completed successfully in the U. S. A., Germany, and Malaysia.

Mr. Joseph Zheng, Director of NFC Consumer Solutions in China at Nokia Ventures Organization Asia, said: “Nokia is dedicated to innovations from technologies to applications and business models. The successful kick-off of the first NFC Mobile Payment Field Trial is very encouraging to all of us participating in the mobile payment value chain. It also demonstrates our confidence in the NFC technology and the new business model it enables. With the progress of NFC Mobile Payment Field Trial, there would be more types of mobile payment available, which will bring totally new user experiences for the mobile phone users in China, and create values for the whole mobile application ecosystem.”

Mr. Xu, volunteer consumer of China Mobile in Xiamen said: “With the integration of E-Tong Card to my mobile phone, I feel so convenient to make payment. It is cool! I hope it will be put into commercial use soon”

NFC is a contactless technology based on open interface and standard platform. Nokia is actively participated in the development of NFC Standards, and co-founded the NFC Forum with Philips and SONY.

With the development of NFC technology, mobile phone becomes a safe, convenient, speedy and fashionable payment instrument. NFC technology is compatible with current contactless smart card infrastructure, so there is no need for significant upfront investment on NFC technology.

NFC device can work under both active and passive mode. For active mode, NFC device can work as a reader and generate its own radio frequency field to identify and read smart card and tag. For passive mode, NFC device can emulate as a card or tag to be read. In this trial, NFC phones work under this passive mode. In addition, two NFC devices can set up communication very conveniently as long as they are close to each other (within 10cm).

Nokia and Visa have teamed up to provide credit card users in Malaysia a chance to buy items using mobile phones.

Using Visa’s Wave readers, a system that deducts a payment from a credit card when an NFC (Near-Field Communication) mobile is pressed against it, the companies will test out the service in Kuala Lumpar where 200 users will try the technology. Only Nokia’s 3220 supports the Visa Wave service.

The four-month trial could be a precursor to a full commercial rollout, the companies said.

NFC has yet to catch on in Europe where it is only available as a commercial service in Hanau, Germany where it is used to pay for bus journeys.

In Japan NTT DoCoMo uses its own credit card brand, iD, which allows consumers to pay for goods with their so-called ‘wallet phones’.